Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: The Novel
by OtisSux
Summary: As the title suggests, this is a novelization. I've taken a FEW liberties to make the plot make more sense and to make it more interesting, but I'll try to keep it intact for the most part. Hopefully I'll actually finish this one. Cheers.


Final Fantasy Mystic Quest

Novelization

**Prologue: The Destiny Hills**

It had been a long day. He'd been climbing these mountains for the last week and he was finally at the last rise, the oddly named Destiny Hills. Beyond that were the Level Forest and the town of Foresta, where he hoped to find someplace to stay for the upcoming night.

As he takes his first few steps onto the hills, he is suddenly thrown off balance as the ground began to shake.

"Not again!" he cried out loud, stumbling to and fro as he struggled to stay on his feet.

An absurdly loud crack resounded from behind him. Turning his head to look for the source of the noise, his mouth fell agape at the sight of the entire mountain range he just crossed shredding to pieces and sinking into the chasm where the recently drained Windian Sea used to be. To his dismay, the chasm was widening and approaching his current location rapidly.

"Devils!" he swore, stumbling forward and racing over the hills as fast as the rumbling ground would let him.

As he crested the top of the first hill, he noticed an old man on his knees struggling to his feet, but unable to due to the violence of the shaking. He rushed over to the man and helped him to his feet.

"Are you alright?" he asked, shouting to be heard over the noise of the mountain's death.

"Aye! But let's make haste lest this mountain devour us as well!" the old man shouted back.

Together they made their way down the slope, the mountain crumbling behind them, beginning to gnaw at the base of the hill. Without warning, a great crack opened up in front of their path and they were both forced to their knees as more of the ground fell into the chasm.

"By the Goddess! What now?!" shouted the younger of the two.

The old man looked to their left. The chasm between them and the rest of the hills was slowly widening, but as of yet it wasn't so wide…

"There!" the old man shouted, pointing with his cane to the gap. "We can jump this gap and make it to the next hill!"

"You sure you can handle it?"

"Ha! I might look old and frail, but I can still show you a thing or two, lad! Come, before we're too late!"

They both scrambled to their feet and rushed toward the gap. The younger man made the jump cleanly, rolling onto his shoulder to ease his collision with the ground, but the ground gave out under the old man as he landed. As his cane skidded across the ground, the elder man scrapped and clawed to find purchase, but he was sliding over the edge fast. Rolling back to his feet, the younger gave a massive leap and caught the elder's arm just before he slid off into the chasm.

"Thanks!" the elder said to him as he hauled him back over the edge. Retrieving his cane, he pointed toward the next hill with it and spoke up as the younger dusted himself off. "There! Let's get to that summit. We'll be safe there for the time being."

The old man's words proved to be true, as the rumbling trailed off and ceased all together as the previous hill fell into oblivion. The summit of the next hill looked out across a large part of the Windian Sea basin, the great Focus Tower visible in the distance.

"This is crazy!" the younger man exclaimed as they approached the summit. "First my village is leveled by an earthquake and now the entire mountain range falls into the Windian Sea! What on earth is going on?"

"Terrible things, lad. That much I can tell you," the old man muttered quietly. Now that his voice wasn't drowned out by the death of the mountain, the younger man noted a hint of a warble in the voice.

They stopped at the summit and turned to face each other after casting a quick glance at the view offered by their perch.

"I suppose introductions are in order," the elder said, extending a wrinkled hand. "I am called Lucian the Wise, more so for my advanced age then any sort of great wisdom, I might warn you," he announced, grinning slightly as he poked fun at himself. "I thank you for saving me from an unsavory plummet to my death, lad."

The younger accepted the hand and shook it firmly. "It was nothing. Any good man would have done the same. I am Benjamin the Smith, formerly of Verdore, but I guess Verdore no longer exists," he replied somewhat morosely.

Lucian nodded. "Aye. It is an unfortunate thing what happened to your home. It was not without reason however."

Benjamin frowned at this. "What do you mean?"

The old man turned back to the view ahead of them. He gestured with a wave of his hand to the structure in the distance. "Look out there. What do you see, lad?"

Benjamin brushed a few loose strands of his reddish brown hair from his eyes as he gazed out across the basin. "The Focus Tower, the so called 'Heart of the World'. I heard rumors that something happened there last year."

"No rumors, that. The tower was assaulted by terrible beings and the four crystals stolen. Since then, the doors to the tower have been sealed, preventing the trade that allowed this continent flourish for so long."

His frown deepened as he took in what Lucian had to say. "I truly had no idea things were so serious. What does it all mean?"

"There's an old prophecy that speaks of this. I'll recite it for you:

_In a time of great prosperity_

_The Vile Four will steal the Power_

_And divide the World behind Four Doors_

_Thus will Chaos reign_

_The Earth shall tremor_

_The Wind shall still_

_The Fire shall rage_

_The Water shall stagnate_

_At this time_

_A Knight will appear_

_Wielding the Power of Light_

_And free the Land_…"

"A knight…" Benjamin echoed, the word striking a chord deep within him.

"Yes. The prophecy is coming true. The Viles are draining the crystals as we speak, and the world is falling into chaos. I've come to this mountain because of this prophecy, for it is said that here in this very spot will the Knight begin his quest to save the world," Lucian explained. He then turned to stare at Benjamin with serious eyes.

Benjamin stared back for a moment before realization kicked in. "What? Do you think that _I_ am this knight spoken of by the prophecy?" he asked incredulously.

Lucian chuckled at the bewildered look on the younger man's face. "It must be you, Benjamin! You've come to the exact spot at the exact time foretold so long ago!"

"I cannot be. I'm just a simple smith, not a hero," Benjamin replied in protest.

"Heroes aren't born, lad. They are forged through strife. All men are born as equals, humble individuals."

Benjamin shook his head and was about to protest again when a great roar sounded from behind them. The two of them whirled about to see a behemoth of a creature striding toward them.

"Devils!" Benjamin exclaimed, drawing the steel sword belted at his hip. "What in the world is _that_!?"

"A monster! Ware, lad! This is a dangerous one!"

As the beast approached, a deep rumbling laugh started to emanate from its throat. Much to the surprise of both men, it started to speak a moment later.

"So, this is the young upstart I've waited an eon for? I am hardly impressed!"

"You've… Been waiting for me?" Benjamin asked haltingly.

"I've been waiting for the Knight of Light, not a boy with a metal stick! But there is no one else. My master has instructed me to destroy the one who dares show his face on these hills, and destroy you I shall!" the monster bellowed. Without further warning, it charged him, intending to gore him with its horns.

"Ah!" Benjamin shouted in alarm as he rolled out of the way, the behemoth passing within inches of him.

He rolled back to his feet and faced the beast. It was laughing again as it slowly circled the younger man.

"You must fight him, lad! He will kill you if you don't!" Lucian shouted to him from where he watched helplessly.

"Right!"

Benjamin lunged forward suddenly and struck the behemoth with an arching blow, but his blade just ricocheted off the monster's iron-like hide. The beast laughed again, its jagged toothed muzzle curling up into a sinister grin.

"Foolish boy! You cannot harm me!" it bellowed and dashed forward to snap at him.

Ben rolled out of the way once again, but found himself on the receiving end up the monster's horns as it flipped him into the air, spilling him onto the hard ground.

"Ug…" he grunted to himself as he got back up to one knee. Luckily the steel vest his father had made for him absorbed most of the damage from the attack. He pushed himself back to his feet and lashed out again at the charging beast, but as before, the sword rebounded off harmlessly.

They spent the next few minutes trading blows, Ben giving more then he took, but the behemoth's doing much greater damage. The battle reached an intermission when the monster finally managed to gore Benjamin head on, sending him rolling back several feet where he leaned on all fours trying to catch his breath. The monster laughed and spoke again.

"Give it up, boy! You cannot hope to ever defeat me! Surrender now and my master will grant you a swift, painless death!"

Ben looked over at the beast as it stared down at him a few feet away. _A painless death… What does it matter? Why not just finish me off right now? It's not like I'd be able to stop it..._ he thought as he slowly stood back to his feet. He looked down at the sword that his father also made for him, that along with the now scuffed up vest he was wearing being a gift for his 18th birthday. He pondered the monster's words and slowly turned his back to the beast. _Still alive,_ he thought again after presenting his back for a few moments. _It just doesn't make sense… If I can't defeat him, why offer me the choice? … Unless…_

"Perhaps you're right," Ben said in a defeated voice.

"Yes!" the behemoth rasped in anticipation.

"No!" Lucian shouted, taking a step forward. "You _must_ not give up or the world is lost!"

"Forget it, old fool! He _knows_ he cannot defeat me!"

"Yes, you're right. I can't," Ben said. "But… Maybe you're wrong!"

Spinning around rapidly, bearing his sword in both hands, Ben caught the distracted behemoth with a crushing blow to the side of its face. This blow didn't simply bounce off harmlessly, it sheered off one of the beast's horns and cracked the armor on its head. It cried out in pain and slinked away from him, shaking its head.

Ben grinned. _Unless, of course, it was afraid of me!_

He leapt forward and began assaulting it mercilessly, aiming for the cracked armor at every opportunity, vile, black blood soon oozing from the cracks.

"Yes! That's it, lad! You've got him now!" Lucian shouted joyously, dancing up and down at the beast shrunk back from every blow.

Everything was going Ben's way until, after a particularly nasty strike that tore the armor right off the monster's face, eliciting a yelp from the creature, it struck back with the speed of a snake, clawing Ben's legs out from under him. Lucian winced as Ben landed with a grunt of pain and the behemoth pounced on top of him, held at bay only by his right arm.

The behemoth snarled at him, spitting saliva in his face. "Cur! I'll tear you to pieces and send you to Hell!" it growled at him as it gnashed its teeth in an attempt to bite down on his throat.

"You first!" Ben growled back through teeth clenched together from the effort of holding back the heavy and powerful beast. His sword laying far beyond his reach to his right, he groped around on the ground with his left until his fingers closed around something solid. "Gotchya!" he shouted and swung around the rock he now had clenched in his fist to smash the exposed flesh of the monster's face. Its eye caved in from the blow and the behemoth staggered back off of him.

Ben wasted no time, diving for his sword while the behemoth was still reeling in agony. Pausing only a moment to line up his attack, Ben lunged forward and his sword slid into the socket of the exploded eye to pierce the beast's brain. It let out a final yelp and folded up like a rag as Ben crashed into the now dead creature's corpse.

He remained on top for a few moments just trying to get enough breath to calm his beating heart. Lucian was shouting with exhalation again as he danced over to him.

"Yes! I knew it! I _knew_ you were the one! This _proves_ it!" the old man crowed, helping Ben back to his feet.

"Proves?! I thought you were certain before?" Ben rasped as he pulled his sword from the dead behemoth.

Lucian laughed joyously. "Well, it was actually more of a guess to be honest. One can never be too certain of the future!"

Ben just shook his head and grimaced as the adrenaline stopped flooding his system and the various pains he sustained from the battle started to make themselves known to him. "Some hero I am," he said painfully. "That thing just about trashed me."

"No hero is invincible, lad. I assure you that in time you'll improve. Here, let me take care of those wounds for you."

The old man raised his cane into the air and muttered a handful of arcane sounding words under his breath. Seemingly out of nowhere a soothing breeze rushed over him, this accompanied by a dazzling display of light. Ben took a deep breath as the pain seeped away.

"What in the world was that?" he asked the elder man.

"Magic, lad! The gift of the Goddess!"

"I've only ever heard of it before, never seen it. I wasn't even sure it really existed."

"You'll be seeing a lot of it during your quest, I can assure you of that."

"Why didn't you use your magic on me before, during the battle? I could have used the help."

"I was not allowed to interfere. This was a test you were required to pass alone. You will be facing many such tests in the near future, but I'm pleased to say that few of them will be ones you must face alone."

"Then… I'll have help?"

"Yes. Those of all walks of life will be there to offer help, some more significant then others. Just don't think it will be easy though. You'll have to earn much of this help."

Ben nodded. "What should I do first?" he asked.

Just as he asked his question, the earth started to shake again.

"Later! This place is about to come down around us! Meet me at the Level Forest and we'll finish talking!" Lucian shouted.

"Meet you?" Ben asked, confused.

The old man then slammed the butt of his cane on the ground and he vanished in a flash of light.

"WHAT?!" Ben exclaimed, unable to believe his eyes. _That old bastard didn't need my help on that last hill at all!_

The ground shook with more ferocity and a great crack sounded as the remainder of the Destiny Hills began to crumble away.

Ben gave a quick shrug. _Oh well. Better make tracks before this place takes me down with it_, he thought as he started off down the hill toward Level Forest. . . .

* * *

Author's Note: Why novelize Mystic Quest, the so called "Black Sheep" of the Final Fantasy family, you might ask? I say, WHY THE HELL NOT!? :P Me, I've always enjoyed the game. Most of the criticisms for it stem from the fact that it's being compared to a full blown Final Fantasy game, which is ABSURD since it was NEVER SUPPOSED to be one. Yeah, sure, the story is lacking and cliched, but hell, if it wasn't then I'd have nothing to write about! Anyway, I hope you enjoy these feeble words I've laid out and as always I appreciate constructive criticism and I'd to hear what you liked and disliked most about each chapter. So til we meet again next chapter, HAPPY READING!


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